Sir John Gell, 2nd Baronet (1613 – 8 February 1689) was an English politician who sat in the

House of Commons The House of Commons is the name for the elected lower house of the bicameral parliaments of the United Kingdom and Canada. In both of these countries, the Commons holds much more legislative power than the nominally upper house of parliament. ...

at various times between 1654 and 1689.

Early life

He was baptised at Kedleston in October 1613. Gell was the son of

Sir John Gell, 1st Baronet Sir John Gell, 1st Baronet (22 June 1593 – 26 October 1671) was a British landowner from Derbyshire who acted as local Parliamentarian commander for most of the First English Civil War before resigning in May 1646. He was notorious for parad ...

of Hopton, Derbyshire, and his wife Elizabeth Willoughby, daughter of Sir

Percival Willoughby Sir Percival Willoughby (died 23 August 1643) of Wollaton Hall, Nottinghamshire was a prominent land owner, businessman, and entrepreneur involved during his lifetime variously in mining, iron smelting, and glass making enterprises in Nottinghamsh ...

Wollaton Hall Wollaton Hall is an Elizabethan country house of the 1580s standing on a small but prominent hill in Wollaton Park, Nottingham, England. The house is now Nottingham Natural History Museum, with Nottingham Industrial Museum in the outbuildings ...

Nottinghamshire Nottinghamshire (; abbreviated Notts.) is a landlocked county in the East Midlands region of England, bordering South Yorkshire to the north-west, Lincolnshire to the east, Leicestershire to the south, and Derbyshire to the west. The traditi ...

. He matriculated at

Magdalen Hall, Oxford Hertford College ( ), previously known as Magdalen Hall, is a constituent college of the University of Oxford in England. It is located on Catte Street in the centre of Oxford, directly opposite the main gate to the Bodleian Library. The colleg ...

on 23 November 1632, aged 17. 'Alumni Oxonienses, 1500-1714: Gabel-Gilmore', Alumni Oxonienses 1500-1714: Abannan-Kyte (1891), pp. 542–568. Date accessed: 7 August 2011
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Career

In 1654, Gell was elected

Member of Parliament A member of parliament (MP) is the representative in parliament of the people who live in their electoral district. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house members of ...

for

Derbyshire Derbyshire ( ) is a ceremonial county in the East Midlands, England. It includes much of the Peak District National Park, the southern end of the Pennine range of hills and part of the National Forest. It borders Greater Manchester to the nor ...

in the

First Protectorate Parliament The First Protectorate Parliament was summoned by the Lord Protector Oliver Cromwell under the terms of the Instrument of Government. It sat for one term from 3 September 1654 until 22 January 1655 with William Lenthall as the Speaker of the Hou ...

. He was re-elected MP for Derbyshire in 1656 for the

Second Protectorate Parliament The Second Protectorate Parliament in England sat for two sessions from 17 September 1656 until 4 February 1658, with Thomas Widdrington as the Speaker of the House of Commons. In its first session, the House of Commons was its only chamber; in t ...

. In 1659 he was re-elected MP for Derbyshire for the

Third Protectorate Parliament The Third Protectorate Parliament sat for one session, from 27 January 1659 until 22 April 1659, with Chaloner Chute and Thomas Bampfylde as the Speakers of the House of Commons. It was a bicameral Parliament, with an Upper House having a po ...

. Gell inherited the

baronetcy A baronet ( or ; abbreviated Bart or Bt) or the female equivalent, a baronetess (, , or ; abbreviation Btss), is the holder of a baronetcy, a hereditary title awarded by the British Crown. The title of baronet is mentioned as early as the 14th ...

on the death of his father in 1671. He was

High Sheriff of Derbyshire High may refer to: Science and technology * Height * High (atmospheric), a high-pressure area * High (computability), a quality of a Turing degree, in computability theory * High (tectonics), in geology an area where relative tectonic uplift t ...

in 1673. In January 1689 he was elected MP for Derbyshire but died a month later at the age of 76.

Personal life

Gell married the religious patron Katherine Packer, daughter of Philippa (born Mills) and

John Packer John Richard Packer (born 10 October 1946) is a retired British Anglican bishop. He was the only Bishop of Ripon and Leeds, serving from the renaming of the diocese from Ripon in 2000 to his 2014 retirement (prior to his former diocese's merg ...

Donnington Castle Donnington Castle is a ruined medieval castle, situated in the small village of Donnington, just north of the town of Newbury in the English county of Berkshire. It was founded by Sir Richard Abberbury the Elder in 1386 and was bought by Tho ...

, Berkshire. Together, they were the parents of four sons and three daughters of whom six survived infancy. Their first child Katherine was baptised in

Westminster Abbey Westminster Abbey, formally titled the Collegiate Church of Saint Peter at Westminster, is an historic, mainly Gothic church in the City of Westminster, London, England, just to the west of the Palace of Westminster. It is one of the United ...

in 1645: * Sir Philip Gell, 3rd Baronet (1651–1719), who married Elizabeth Fagg in 1678. * Katherine Gell (1645- ), who married William Eyre of Holme Hall and Highlow Hall,

. He was succeeded in the baronetcy by his son

Philip Philip, also Phillip, is a male given name, derived from the Greek (''Philippos'', lit. "horse-loving" or "fond of horses"), from a compound of (''philos'', "dear", "loved", "loving") and (''hippos'', "horse"). Prominent Philips who popularize ...

. The baronetcy became extinct upon his son's death in 1719.

Descendants

As his son Philip died without issue, his grandson, John Eyre, assumed the surname Gell to inherit the lands at Hopton after Philip's death in 1719. John Eyre Gell was the father of Admiral

John Gell John Gell may refer to: *Sir John Gell, 1st Baronet (1592–1671), Parliamentarian in the English Civil War *Sir John Gell, 2nd Baronet (1612–1689), lead mining magnate and MP for Derbyshire * John Eyre Gell (died 1739), known as John Eyre before ...

and Philip Eyre Gell, who eventually inherited the Gell family fortune, and was himself the father of Philip Gell, MP for

Malmesbury Malmesbury () is a town and civil parish in north Wiltshire, England, which lies approximately west of Swindon, northeast of Bristol, and north of Chippenham. The older part of the town is on a hilltop which is almost surrounded by the up ...

and Penryn, and the renowned antiquarian

Sir William Gell Sir William Gell FRS (29 March 17774 February 1836) was a British classical archaeologist and illustrator. He published topographical illustrations of Troy and the surrounding area in 1804. He also published illustrations showing the results ...

. Another grandson, William Eyre, MP for

Berkshire Berkshire ( ; in the 17th century sometimes spelt phonetically as Barkeshire; abbreviated Berks.) is a historic county in South East England. One of the home counties, Berkshire was recognised by Queen Elizabeth II as the Royal County of Berk ...

, assumed the surname Archer to inherit the estates of Sir John Archer. Among his four children were John Archer (who married Lady Mary Fitzwilliam, a daughter of John Fitzwilliam, 2nd Earl Fitzwilliam), Michael Archer (MP for

Beverley Beverley is a market town, market and minster (church), minster town and a civil parishes in England, civil parish in the East Riding of Yorkshire, England, of which it is the county town. The town centre is located south-east of York's centre ...

), Catherine Archer (wife of Philip Blundell) and Susanna Archer (wife of

Edward Harley, 4th Earl of Oxford and Earl Mortimer Edward Harley, 4th Earl of Oxford and Earl Mortimer, (2 September 1726 – 11 October 1790), styled Lord Harley from 1741 to 1755, was a British peer and Tory politician. Early life Harley was the eldest son of Edward Harley, 3rd Earl of Oxf ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Gell, John 2nd Baronet 1613 births 1689 deaths Baronets in the Baronetage of England English MPs 1654–1655 English MPs 1656–1658 English MPs 1659 English MPs 1689–1690 High Sheriffs of Derbyshire People from Derbyshire Dales (district)